About

The Community School makes its home on the Perkins Farm in South Tamworth

The Community School is a private non-sectarian co-educational day school serving 35 students in grades 7 to 12. Our students are bright, highly motivated young people from 15 towns in central New Hampshire and western Maine.

We believe learning is a rigorous and joyful pursuit which calls on each individual’s talents and interests,

Students discuss issues at a weekly school meeting.

and promotes appreciation of the interconnectedness of people and places. At The Community School, our mission is to support students on their individual learning paths within a caring and respectful community.

Students and teachers collaborate in small multi-disciplinary classes, at School Meeting, and in the school’s gardens and forests to build a healthy local community that contributes to a sustainable world. In preparation for college and meaningful work, students learn by doing, connect with nature, develop an ethic of stewardship, solve real problems, and provide service to others.

The Community School’s core values:

Connect with nature Honor the individual Act responsibly with all people and places Face challenge with courage Experience education! The Community School is approved by the New Hampshire Department of Education and fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  Since 1989, the Community School has graduated 106 students. Eighty-five percent have gone on to college. These are some of the colleges our students attend: Alfred University Antioch College Beloit College Bay State College Bennett St. School Bennington College Berklee School of Music Bowdoin College Champlain College Charles University Chester College Clarkson University College of the Atlantic Granite State College College of Wooster Concord Technical Earlham College Emerson College Emmanuel College Goddard College Gordon College Goucher College Ithaca College Keene State College Kenyon College Landmark College Lesley University Lyndon State College Maine Maritime Academy Marlboro College Mass. College of Liberal Arts Naropa University New England College NH Technical College Paul Smith’s College Plymouth State University Regis College Santa Fe College Southern Maine Technical Southern Maine Technical Sterling College Unity College Univ. of Maine at Orono University of Minnesota University of New England Univ. of New Hampshire U. of Pennsylvania University of Vermont Univ. of Southern Maine Warsaw University Wheelock College 2008 TCS graduates History of The Community School 1989: Martha and Rudy Carlson open the school in their Sandwich home with nine students. A Board of Directors establishes Sandwich Community School Inc. as a non-profit corporation. The IRS recognizes the school as a 501{c}3 organization. The New Hampshire Department of Education approves the school for enrollment. Martha Carlson, the single fulltime employee, teaches with parttime French teacher Jean Brown and school nurse Fran Mauch. The budget is $45,000. 1992: The Community School purchases the Perkins Farm, 307 acres on the Bearcamp River. The farm is protected by a conservation easement, permanently protecting the forests and fields for public access. The school reconstructs the old farmhouse as a modern classroom building. The first two students graduate. 1994: The school’s forests are certified as an American tree farm. 1995:  Exchange program with the Monteverde Friends School in Costa Rica begins. 1997: The school establishes the Bearcamp Woodwrights program. Students travel to the Czech Republic. 1998: The school is visited by an NEASC Visiting Committee whose members recommend accreditation. 1999: The Community School celebrates its tenth anniversary.  The school obtains formal accreditation and becomes one of the youngest schools in New England to meet NEASC standards. The school’s gardens are certified organic. The school’s drama program becomes Advice to the Players. 2000: Scholarship aid doubles to assist 60 percent of students. 2002: A new wing is completed for science lab and library. Enrollment reaches 50. Five fulltime teachers, 3 administrators, 10 part-time teachers and a garden crew run the school with a $630,000 budget. 2006:  The school begins its 17th year with Jenny Rowe as director.  Board of Trustees works to create effective committees and begins collaborative efforts to fundraise for the school’s annual fund.  Six students graduate. 2007:  School begins its Rural Sustainable Schools Project, an initiative to integrate rural schools into local communities, with $35,000 grant. 2008:  Board and staff prepare for NEASC reaccreditation process.